LONDON, England (CNN) -- When Michael Phelps lost his first major individual competition in four years at the World Championships in Rome it was a defeat which could help define the sport for decades to come.

Michael Phelps ponders his second-placed finish behind Paul Biedermann at the World Championships in Rome.

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The suits have divided opinion in the swimming world with calls for performance-enhancing equipment to be banned.

Among the critics is Phelps' coach Bob Bowman who hinted after the defeat in Rome that he may withhold his man from international meets until the playing field is a level one.

FINA - the sport's governing body - have made clear their plans in response to the criticism with a return to common textile in suits defined by a group of scientific experts led by Professor Jan-Anders Manson, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.

There will be uniform permeability, no modification for individual swimmers who will only be able to wear one suit with no taping allowed while thickness and buoyancy are also to be reduced.

Also FINA reduced the area of the body which the suit will be able to cover. For men, it will not extend above the navel nor below the knee, and for women, shall not cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor extend below the knee.

Ultimately the back-to-basics approach from FINA means the excitement of a world record being broken is likely to become less-common phenomena, but it will see a welcome return to competitive and fair races.

Although, it will not be implemented until April or May 2010 to allow manufacturers time to make the transition - and some unbreakable records to be set.